Blues Guitar with Donovan R.

An Irvine, California native, Donovan started his musical career with the piano at the age of 5. At the age of 11, Donovan fell in love with the electric guitar and started taking lessons. Donovan's love for the guitar grew as he started to perform regularly in a wide variety of styles, Performing his first professional gig at the age of 15. In 2001 Donovan was one of 10 students admitted to the prestigious Studio/Jazz guitar program at the University of Southern California's Thornton School of Music, and was the recipient of the Paul LaRose memorial scholarship for guitar. While at USC, Donovan studied jazz and contemporary guitar styles with Steve Trovato, Richard Smith, Frank Potenza, and Pat Kelley, as well as classical, flamenco and fingerstyle guitar with David Oakes and James Smith. Donovan graduated from the studio guitar program with honors from USC in 2005. After graduating, Donovan has been active as a professional musician in the Southern California area, with several recording and live credits, including some of the top venues in Southern California. In 2010, Donovan completed a master's degree in Guitar Performance (Jazz Studies) from the Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University, Long Beach, studying 7-string guitar with Ron Eschete. While at CSULB, Donovan wrote his master's thesis on the life of music of Michael Hedges entitled "Michael Hedges and the Re-Invention of Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar" Donovan has been very active as an educator, and currently holds faculty positions teaching guitar at Concordia University, Irivne and Golden West College in Huntington Beach. In 2008, Donovan self-published a guitar method book entitled "The Practical Guitar Method: Real-World Instruction for the Beginning to Advanced Guitarist"